On writing a book (on Offshoring)

In this age of blogging and easy-self publishing, where one can broadcast one's views to a wide audience almost instantly, one would think that one could (and should) circumvent the intricacies involved in writing for the traditional media. This view also subscribes to the theory that the traditional publishing industry is doomed and printed books and magazines are a thing of the past. Those with the loudest views on demise of publishing industry are"(probably) individuals who have also been frustrated by the traditional media; the intricacies involved in writing and mailing one's views to editors, receiving frustrating reject-letters and the occasional acceptance of the article; not to mention the intricacies of editing and publication according to each individual magazine or publisher's whims. Whether the publishing industry is doomed or not is moot, given the fact that most writers still crave the pleasure of seeing their writings in print, especially if they can have their prose appear in 'more reputable' publications.

Authors beat the proverbial 'muse' to try and churn out prose which they hope publishers accept, and (possibly) readers will appreciate. I have been moonlighting as a writer and columnist for a few years and generally write shorter essays, opinion columns and articles. I hadn't attempted a book, at least not until the editor of McGraw Hill in India pinged me asking if I would explore a topic I had written about in a column. This was over two years ago. I was intrigued and excited by this opportunity.

Caveat: These thoughts are arbitrary and random musings of a first-time, relatively unknown, author; and I am guessing that Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Andy Grove or the authors who get million-dollar sign-on bonuses don't have to go through some of the same steps mentioned here.

Ideation: Books are born out of ideas that the authors conjure up. Some authors may already be famous or well known because of the prominence in their fields and find it easy to expound their life experiences or eulogize their success stories. Case in point: the books authored by technology leaders, Noble Laureate, War Heroes, Business Gurus and Sports megastars generally have a compelling 'story' to tell; and a ready audience waiting. For the rest of us, superstars only in our minds, writing a story about our life experiences may not sell. What may sell are ideas and unique thoughts that could intrigue or educate the audience.

Contacting publishers: After ideation comes the hardest part of authoring a book, namely getting a publisher to accept the idea or manuscript. Writers, especially first time authors find it extremely hard to get editors to review and accept their draft manuscripts. As with most business initiatives, publishers are more concerned about whether the idea that translates to a book would sell, if so to which audience, and how many copies. I must admit that in my case, it was a bit easier to present my manuscript since I had already touched base with the editor at McGrawHill. Of course, getting her to actually accept the theme and my views on the topic required some persuasion on my part. The draft of the idea and manuscript went through several iterations. The first time I proposed a topic expanding on the 'Change Management' idea that I had expounded in the article which the editor didn't bite. The second idea on managing offshoring was accepted and was I was given a contract 'offer.'

Contract 'negotiation:' On getting the contract offer, I realized that there wasn't much I could 'negotiate,' given the fact that a book-contract offer from a large brand-name publisher was a privilege in itself. I did some googling and asked around my circle of peers and found that the 'small' percentage of royalty offered by the publisher was typical in the industry and that was little I could negotiate. Looking back, however, I could have at least asked for and assurance of better visibility and 'time to market' from the publisher prior to signing the contract. I guess there is always the next-time.

Research and Writing: The actual grunt work, the 'research,' gathering the flow for the book, topic and ideas is an iterative process that depends on the genera of the work. Stories and novels flow directly from ideation, typically without any intervention from external sources. Writing a non fictional work, especially on a dynamic topic like Outsourcing and Offshoring, is an iterative process. The risk of selecting the topic was 'breadth versus depth.' I began with writing with a certain hypothesis that I revisited a few times before the storyline began to synchronize.

I also realized that if I were to add value, I could not work in isolation. I would have to contact people and gather ideas for research. This process of contacting people who would be willing to collaborate or contribute was a bit of a hit-and-miss since some of the bigger names in the industry - academics and practitioners -- 'respectfully' declined. I consciously avoided getting counsel on my ideation from most of my colleagues, friends or family (for obvious reasons). Similarly, I decided not to use ideas from my employer or from our internal processes.

Editorial review:At the editor's suggestion, I had submitted the initial draft of the first few chapters, along with the table of contents, sometime in early January'05. I also met with her to discuss the overall timeline, schedule etc. After that, the editor wanted to wait for me to submit the complete manuscript before scheduling a formal review. I completed the draft of my manuscript by early April and sent it for editorial review, a process that still involves marking edits on printed copies (the world in not fully digital yet?!). The process was iterative, involving review by some editors and Subject matter experts nominated by the publisher. The editor sent back a marked copy of a draft for verification and modifications.

The 'black hole' after editorial review: After editorial reviews, the manuscript went into a 'black hole' where I, the author, had little visibility into what was happening. What (I guess) happens is that the book -- along with other reviewed, edited manuscripts from other authors - gets queued into the publisher's production schedule, marketing plan and a whole workflow that is transparent to the author. As a naï¿½ve first-time author, I underestimated the 'time to market' behind printing and publishing books and made the faux pas of going to town before the scheduled printing. I designed a simple website (URL: http://www.offshoringmanagement.com) to attract attention and also went about informing friends and peers. Another big mistake! Marketing 101: Do not try to market a product till it is available....else you end up with a vaporware that people will forget soon

Seeing the 'work product' in print: Though I am yet to lay hands on a copy as I am in travel in North America, I know that the book got printed sometime in January 2006 because the editors mailed out a copy to my Dad in Bangalore (he was thrilled to see it though he is yet to provide a critique)

Vote of thanks: Thanks to the editors and McGrawHill, India ï¿½.and everyone else who contributed.... Oh, let me not get too mushy

What next ?: Hope and pray that the book sells, making the author (me) rich and famousï¿½Yeah right!: if wishes were horses, beggars would ride?! But Hay, does it hurt to dream?

5 Comments

Good post, interesting to hear the steps you went through. I've always heard the process is time consuming and doesn't pay much! But as with blogging the reward would be getting your thoughts out there and connecting with readers.

I would like to express that i wrote 85 papers on TCP/IP and a name of my book is "UNDERSTAND TCP/IP FOR HACKING " and i want to publish this book with you. I believe that this book is a blast of IT security or IT field. So guide me and tell the process of publishing my book, I am a newcomer in this field.

Book manuscript editing or proofreading for any literary work is as important as creating it. No matter how profound or ground-breaking any manuscript is, it will always need proper editing or proofreading before it can be published.

Specifically, this will condition your eyes to slow up when you start proofreading. The gap between finishing your book and hard cored proofreading could be as little as ten minutes, an hour, or a day.

Disclaimer: Blog contents express the viewpoints of their independent authors and
are not reviewed for correctness or accuracy by
Toolbox for IT. Any opinions, comments, solutions or other commentary
expressed by blog authors are not endorsed or recommended by
Toolbox for IT
or any vendor. If you feel a blog entry is inappropriate,
click here to notify
Toolbox for IT.

Mohan has been in software development and engineering since 1994. Follow along as he presents views and observations on trends in ...
more

Mohan has been in software development and engineering since 1994. Follow along as he presents views and observations on trends in technology and management, including sourcing and outsourcing, the Global Delivery Model & Global Project Management, IT effectiveness, and innovation strategy.
less

Receive the latest blog posts:

Share Your Perspective

Share your professional knowledge and experience with peers. Start a blog on Toolbox for IT today!